Mr Right
by Emily Elizabeth
Summary: This is my take on Nick trying to hook Sara up with someone in 'Precious Metal'. *Complete!*
1. Chapter One

Title: Mr. Right Rating: PG Summary: This is my take on Nick trying to hook Sara up with somebody in 'Precious Metal'. Undecided pairings.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Sara paced around her living room in anticipation. She couldn't believe she even agreed to go out with this mystery man. She didn't even know him. She didn't even know his name. But here she was, in a simple, casual black dress, waiting for him to pick her up. She was even wearing make- up. She never wore make-up, which made her wonder why she was even wearing it now. She wasn't really interested in seeing anyone. She was just trying to humor Nick, so he would get off her back. One date, that's all she needed, and he would leave her alone.   
  
She looked down at her watch. 6:50. He would be there in ten minutes. She sat down, and wondered again why she was going out with this guy. Sighing, she thought back to that morning, when shift was ending, and she agreed to what she was sure would be a fiasco.  
  
~*~  
  
"Come on, Sara, he's a great guy."  
  
"NO! Nick, I don't want you fixing me up with anybody," Sara explained for the zillionth time, walking into the break room.  
  
"But he's not seeing anyone, and you're not--"  
  
"Nick, don't even say it," she cut him off, "I know what you're going to say, so DON'T SAY IT."  
  
"But he's a great guy, and I think the two of you would really hit it off," Nick argued.  
  
"It's too soon, Nick," she sighed, "Hank and I just broke up. Give me some time."  
  
"But Hank was an ass from the beginning. He treated you like crap; you shouldn't have to get over him. He should have to get over you."  
  
"That's sweet Nick, but you don't understand. It's...complicated. Every relationship I've been in has ended in a train wreck. I thought Hank would be different, but he's just like every other guy I've dated. A bastard," she tried to explain.  
  
"Sara," Nick started softly, "I can guarantee you that this guy is not a bastard. He'll treat you like an angel."  
  
"Yeah? How do you know that? Huh?" she asked in a tiny voice.  
  
"Because," he said, straightening up, "he's seen you a couple times before, and he's smitten."  
  
"Smitten, huh?" Sara asked, laughing.  
  
"Smitten. So just meet him for dinner tonight, and I promise you won't regret it," Nick pleaded.  
  
"Fine. Tell him to pick me up at seven. He does know where I live, right? I mean, you could give him directions if he doesn't, right?"  
  
"I'll tell him. You'll like him, Sara. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die," he said with a grin.  
  
"You're so juvenile," she said, trying in vain to suppress her laugh.   
  
"So I'll tell him seven, then?"  
  
"Seven."  
  
~*~ She was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of the doorbell ringing. She looked down at her watch. 6:55. He was five minutes early. She like men who were punctual. Rising from her seat, she smoothed her dress, checked her hair and make-up in the hall mirror, and prepared herself for the evening. Looking through the peephole, she gasped at the man on her doorstep.  
  
TBC...  
  
A/N~ Well, whadaya think so far? Who's at the door? What will happen? You have to review to find out!  
  
~Emily 


	2. Chapter Two

Author's Note: Wow! I was astounded at how many reviews I got- you guys are amazing! I'm sorry that I didn't update this sooner, but I was away all last week, and I've been so busy that I haven't been able to sit down at my computer and write till now. So I hope this is worth the wait. I'm not guaranteeing anything, though. Also, sorry to all you G/S shippers. When I said 'undecided pairing,' I didn't mean G/S. If you've read any of my other stories, you know that I'm a die-hard N/S shipper who doesn't mind a good G/C every once in a while. The funny thing is, I wasn't even really planning on making this N/S. I was thinking of Warrick or Greg- leaning more toward Greggo's side, with N/S as a possibility. But by popular demand, this will be a N/S story (can't say I'm disappointed, though. :-D)  
  
~*~*~  
"Oh my god. Nick?" Sara opened the door and ushered Nick into the foyer, gently closing the solid oak door behind her. She turned around to face him, her face a mixture of confusion and anger, with a bit of surprise added in for good measure. "Let me guess- mystery man backed out, didn't he?" she asked, shaking her head. "You know, I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this. I should have stood my ground and told you no, that I didn't want-." She was silenced by Nick's finger on her lips.  
  
"He didn't back out Sara," he stated simply, crossing his arms across his chest and looking at her, studying her, waiting for her reaction.  
  
"Well then where is he? And why are you here? And--," she gasped again as the realization hit her. "Oh my god."  
  
"You say that a lot," Nick commented, walking up to Sara until he was mere inches from her.  
  
"Y-you? You tried to fix me up with…you?" She asked, her voice shaking as he moved even closer to her.  
  
Nick laughed. "You sound surprised. That's the oldest one in the book. 'I've got this friend…'"   
  
"But why? Why not ask me out yourself," she asked, her voice slowly regaining its steadiness.  
  
"I was afraid you'd say no, and I figured if you said no to 'my friend' then I could save my pride, but if you were willing to go out with a guy you didn't even know, then you might be willing to go out with me." He sounded like a small child begging his mother to let him go out and play. She had never seen this side of him before. Nick was her best friend. She knew that, but she had never considered him as a potential boyfriend before. _Don't lie. You know you have._ Well, okay, maybe she had CONSIDERED it, but she had never really thought they could have a future together. _That's just because you thought he didn't feel the same way._ Well, okay, maybe that WAS the real reason.  
  
"I…I don't know what to say," she stammered.  
  
"Just say yes. It's dinner, not marriage."  
  
She laughed, conceding to him. "Okay." She closed the distance between them and kissed his lips softly. As she pulled away, she laughed at his astonished expression. "Come on. It's not every day you get me in a dress, so make the most of it while you can. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity." She grinned, giving him the gap-toothed smile that he loved so much.  
  
He grabbed her jacket from the coat rack near the door and offered his arm to her. She put her arm through his, joining them at the elbow, and walked out the door. What she had thought would be a nightmare of an evening was beginning to turn out just the opposite. In fact, it was a dream come true.

~*~*~*~

A/N~ Please R/R! I have off this week for Spring Break, so I should have the final part of this up in the next couple of days, and to all my Life and Death readers, don't worry- I'll be working on that, too.  :-D

~Emily


	3. Chapter Three

Mr. Right: Chapter Three

Disclaimer:  Don't own them.  Never have, never will.

Author's Note:  I'm really sorry that it took me this long to get it out.  I had the time, believe me.  I just had a lack of inspiration.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to write this chapter, so I kept procrastinating until I could procrastinate no more.  So here you go.  I hope you enjoy it.  And I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed: Mikey, robin2409, A Bloom, Jacqueline, Jen, Tak, asd, iluvcsi4ever, loco, pdhtgal, BlackStorm, MissyJane, mj, Jessica, psyched13, Lauren, Aline Aguiar, Emmy, me, Dolly, and drvvh.  You guys are the best!  Keep the reviews comin'!

~*~*~*~

"Stokes, reservation for two?"

"Ah, yes, Mr. Stokes, right this way please.  May I take your coat, miss?" The maitre d' smiled at Sara and helped her with her jacket.

"Thank you," she said.

"If you will follow me?"  He led the way to a small table illuminated in candlelight, secluded in the far corner of the restaurant.

Nick helped Sara into her chair and sat down in his own.  The maitre d' took their drink orders and left the couple alone.

"So what do you think?  Does this meet the approval of Miss Sara Sidle?" Nick teased.

She leaned in across the table.  "Nick, this place is fabulous.  How'd you manage to make reservations so quickly?  I've been trying to get a reservation for months!"

"Well, I kinda made the reservation a while ago."

"How long ago?"

He coughed when he gave his answer. "sixmonthsago."

"Whoa, wait a minute.  Was that a 'six months ago' I heard you cough under your breath?"

He gave her a lopsided grin.  "Well, yeah."

"How did you know I would say yes?"

"Wishful thinking?" He smiled at her again and took her hand.  "Thank you for coming tonight, Sara.  I know you didn't want to, but--"

"Stop right there, Stokes.  Who says I didn't want to come?"

"I guess I just assumed that--"

"We're CSI's, Nick.  We don't assume anything.  We study the evidence and piece together the pieces."  She leaned in closer to him.  "What does the evidence say?"

"It says to do this," he whispered, and leaned in to kiss her softly and tenderly.  She returned the kiss and then pulled away, smiling. 

"There now, that wasn't so hard, was it?"  Nick laughed and Sara looked at him, perplexed. "What's so funny?"

"I'm just thinking about what Grissom would say if he saw us here, together.  He'd probably give us a lecture about dating your co-workers."

"Please.  If he did he'd be the biggest hypocrite in the world," she said, and took a sip of her wine.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked.

"Grissom and Catherine?"  She gaped at his shocked expression.  "You didn't know?"

"How could I know?"

"How could you _not _know?" She countered.  "Am I the only one who picks up on things?  Just look how they act around each other.  They're just like teenagers in love."

"Really?  That's… sweet."  Nick said.

"_Sweet_?  It's revolting.  I walked in on them in Grissom's office once."  She shuddered.  "Talk about being scarred for life.  Did you ever…you know…walk in on your parents?"  He nodded, grimacing.  "It was like that…totally gross."

"Now that you've completely ruined my meal with _very_ bad mental images, do you know what you want to order?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so."  Nick motioned the waiter over, and he took their orders.  Shortly afterward their food arrived and the two conversed about work.  When that got old, the conversation turned to their heavily guarded pasts.

"Your family had a foster child?  I never knew that.  I thought you were an only child," Nick said, in response to something Sara had said about Jessica, the little girl that had graced her life when she was sixteen and left Sara with a gaping hole in her heart.

"Yeah, my parents took her in about a year after Bobby--" She stopped in mid-sentence, and Nick eyed her curiously.

"Bobby?" he prodded.

"My brother.  He died."  She didn't elaborate, and Nick didn't push her.  If she wanted to tell him, she would, in her own time.

"So uh, we took in Jessica, and we really loved her.  But my parent's B&B wasn't doing too well, and we started having money problems.  The state took her away from us.  She wanted us to adopt her, but we couldn't.  We could barely afford our own needs, and without the money from the state, there was no way we would be able to keep Jess.  So they took her away, and I never saw her again."  She looked down at the table and swirled the wine in her glass.  "So, what about you?" she asked, looking up at Nick, "What doesn't everybody know about our favorite Texan?"

He wanted to tell her about the last-minute babysitter, about how much she had hurt him, about how at the age of nine he was changed forever.  But he couldn't tell her.  Not yet.  "I don't know.  I'm a pretty predictable guy.  But I can tell you something everybody knows about me that isn't true," he offered.

"And what's that?"

"Miss Texas?  It never happened."

"You never dated her?  Then why did you tell everybody you did?" she asked.

"It's kind of a long story.  Actually, I do know her.  She was a friend of a friend, and I met her once at a barbecue in high school.  But that was it.  Then when she won the title, I told my buddies in college that I knew her, and they told people that I dated her, and…well, you can probably guess the rest."

She laughed.   "Yeah, I think I can."  She took a sip of her wine.  "I had a good time tonight, Nick.  Thank you.  Even if you did trick me into coming with you, I'm glad you did."

"So am I."  He motioned for the check, and they left the restaurant.

~*~*~

Sara entered the crime lab feeling like she was on cloud nine.  After they left the restaurant the night before, they had walked along the Strip, talking and laughing and learning more about the other than they ever thought possible.  It had been the best night of her life.

Now, walking into the break room, she smiled when she saw him.  She had been smiling a lot lately.  Whenever she saw him, or even _thought_ about him, her heart fluttered and she smiled.  _Oh my God.  You love him_.  "I do," she thought.  "I do love him."

Nick walked up to her, and checking to make sure that no one was around, he kissed her.  She turned around in his arms and kissed him back.  "Hello to you, too."

"Hey," Nick said, his arms around her waist and her arms around his neck.  "So."

"So," she countered.

"Do you want to tell them yet?" he asked.

"Not yet.  I think we should wait, at least until Griss and Cath tell us about their relationship."

"Yeah, I guess so.  Oh, and speaking of Grissom and Catherine, they're coming down the hall now," he said, releasing Sara and walking in the other direction of the room so that no one would be suspicious.

Catherine and Grissom entered the break room and Catherine walked over to the coffee pot, where Sara was pouring herself a cup.  "So Sara," the older CSI began, "I hear Nicky boy set you up on a blind date last night.  I can't believe you agreed to it."  She took a sip of her coffee and sat down on the plush sofa.  "Blind dates always backfire.  You always end up with Mr. Wrong.  So how horrible was this guy?"

"Actually, Catherine," Sara began, looking over at Nick, who smiled at her, "I think this one was Mr. Right."

~*~*~*~

A/N~ Remember to review!  I mentioned Jessica again in this story (I first briefly introduced her in Life and Death.)  I think once Life and Death is completely finished I'll write that story, or maybe if I get writer's block with L&D I'll work on it, I don't know yet.  Thanks again for all the awesome reviews.  Keep 'em coming!

~Emily


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